JUN 05 Dive Reports

[scottfiji]

Location: South Leo, Malibu, CA (2:30PM & 4:15PM)
Max Depth: 35ft
Vis: 15ft in the outer parts of the reef
Red Tide: gone
Surge: strong in the shallows
Waves: medium size
Temp: 57 degrees

Did 2 dives in Malibu today, practised taking pictures with no flash, using the manual white balance feature, I like the results so far, no back-scatter! Thanks Aaron (LegoPacific) for your suggestion.

The red tide was gone west of point dume, the sun was out, and the reef was dark under the thick kelp, but sunny outside of it. Vis was good deeper than 30ft.

Saw my first swell shark outside of the aquarium, dozens of Doriopsilla albopunctata, and maybe fifty Hermissenda nudibranchs, lots of nudibranch eggs, a sea hare 20 inches long (I measured it), a large lobster, horn shark, sheephead, shovelnose guitarfish, a large free-swimming octopus, blacksmith, kelp & barred sand bass, various rockfish, and a kelp crab. Two great dives!

Scott

Photos (best of)
http://forums.scubapost.net/showthread.php?p=3767#post3767

Photos (all pics)
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Malibu20050607

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I arrived about 30 minutes before Jeff Shaw did, just in time to catch the last of the whitecaps and to catch a whiff of the red tide. Yuck. We each stayed dry. :-(

I'm glad Claudette (HBDivegirl) wasn't there. She would have talked me into diving! The bacteria would have done a number on us. I can just imagine having to rescue her after being infected in that water.

 

[Diver_Jan]

Wednesday, June 8th 2005

Shaw's Cove 4:45pm

Dive Buddy: Frank Baez

Surf: 1-2 with an occassional 3-4'

swell: minimal

surge: 6-8' in some spots

Temp: 64/57 Suunto Toasty except at depth

Max Depth: 47 feet (Didn't know that Shaw's got that DEEP!)

Bottom Time: 55 minutes

Entered the surf, kicked out, dropped down, took our heading to the reef. Entered the Arch. Spotted numerous Sea Hares grooped together; Lightbulb Tunicates; Tree Fish; Blacksmith; Giribaldi's; Rock Wrasse; Calico Bass.

Dove up through the Arch and into the swim through. Surge was coming through pretty strong in some spots that we had to brace ourselves. On our way through, there was an Octo out on the rock. Got to play with him a little bit until he 'Inked' us. Continued east through the swim through until we reached the outer reef. Continued our dive south. Looking at the usual suspects, when out of the blue I dove into an area where there was a pretty steep vertical wall. Hanging on the wall was a HUGE Bat Ray, having dinner on some muscles. Frank and i followed him in, into the reef structure. I had never dove this part of Shaw's before. It was pretty cool. Steep walls on both sides that led South/ West. We continued on, making our way around the backside making a loop to our turn around point.

Came across a cave that I'm familiar with that there are usually alot of bugs, a large male sheep head, and a huge moray that live there. Well...the cave was empty!!! Nothing. I found this very odd. While looking inside, I felt something bite my arm. It was a Giribaldi! What nerve!!! I don't think that I've ever been bitten before. Pinched yes. On our way back along the reef, a yellow nudibranch was pointed out. You really have to have a good eye or a 'macro' eye to spot those little critters.

Surge was picking up as we neared the end of our dive. Coming across the sand, we spotted two more large Bat Rays. There was also a bit of a rip tide going on, so we timed our exit without incident.

We followed up our dive by attending the SOCDC Mtg tonight in which Dale Sheckler was the guest speaking. He did a wonderful presentation on UW photography and 'Hints' on how to get the marine life to cooperate for pictures. A great time was had by all.

 

[Diver_Jan]

I arrived about 30 minutes before Jeff Shaw did, just in time to catch the last of the whitecaps and to catch a whiff of the red tide. Yuck. We each stayed dry. :-(
These images are unedited. This is really how bad it looks tonight.

Yucky! And I almost gave up divng Laguna this afternoon and attending SOCDC Mtg with Dale Sheckler as our guest speaker (CA Diving News). I see I made the RIGHT choice! Who says that Piscians do not have intuition??? HA!

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Everyday is indeed a NEW day!
Date:6/9/05
Dive Location:Redondo Canyon
Time: splash at 7:30PM
Run Time: 56 minutes
Max Depth:81 fsw
Vis:8-10 in the canyon, 4-8 sandy shallows
Wave height:3foot
Temp at depth:53F
Surface Temp:60
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: Just as the papers were declaring the Redondo harbor a red tide disaster area, the current changed, the swell picked up, and the red tide vanished from Vets Park. Jeff Shaw (EvilJeff's delightful sibling!) and I evaded corporate email containment fields and arranged a work-day evening dive. We met a very happy Rayna and Tim leaving the water, describing herds of fearless and curious lobster in the shallows. Viz was murky, 3 foot waves immediately made both of us look like crazy Christmas trees with kelp and eel grass "tinsel" decorating our boughs. We did find a very friendly lobster that kept walking toward my gloved hand, palpating me with both antennae...again and again and again. A pipefish danced a waltz with us in the surgy shallows. And at least 8 octopus used 64 arms-worth of body language to say "Don't look at me, I'm not here, hey...heyhey...don't touch me I don't know you...bugger off!...hey...keep moving, nothing to see....". What are we? Chopped liver? The lobster thought we were irresistable!! Saw a new nudibranch for me: Armina californica (p.80 in Behrens' Pacific Coast nudibranch book), and a couple of pale Hermissenda. Noticed many tongue fish and a couple of "poachers" again...I think they are Pygmy Poachers (p.137, Humann's Coastal Fish book). The Kellet's whelk endless-disco-egg-laying party continues unabated. Most mismatched pair: a little 4inch Sarcastic Fringehead bellicosely guarding a 2-gallon clear plastic jug...you go, guy! Talk about owning property in a slide zone! It was most surprising to find myself underwater tonight after days of ugly red tide news... (now I just have to find a dumpster to conceal the cases of empty Visine bottles... You saw nothing!)
Thanks, Jeff, for coming out to play with all those new toys...we did great!
Happy diving to all,
Claudette

 

[Diver_Jan]

Night Dive

6/9/05 Shaw's Cove

Surf: 1-2 ankle slappers at best on entry; 2-4 on exit...timing without incident

Surge: Heavy in Arch...like being shot out of a canon!!!

Swell: minimal

Viz: 10in shallows; 2-8' at depth and in Arch

Depth: 38'

Temp: Toasty in my 7mm

Buddies: David and Jennifer

Entered the Arch with plans of doing the swim through. NOT. Too much surge. Did get a nice treat of playing with the JV Bat Ray that was hanging out in there. I think it might have been the same one from yesterday (Wed).

Usual suspects: Spanish Shawls; Bat Rays; Moray's; Sting Rays; Thornback Rays; Bugs; Octos; itty bitty tinsey wynsey Sheep Crab (size of a quarter); treated to a HUGE Horn Shark 3.5' + or better in length out on the sand; Cusk Eels swimming out and about; more BIG Bat Rays.

All in all a cool dive!!!

I will be diving La Jolla this weekend so will report back on Monday.

Cheers!!!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Date: 6/11/05
Dive Location: Heisler Park, Laguna Beach - Wrinkles Dive
Time: 10:00
Bottom Time: :56
Max Depth: 37'
Vis: 0-10'
Wave height: 1-3
Temp at depth: Warm, reports of 67F
Tide information: Low tide at 7:30
Gas mix: Air (21%)
Comments: I finally got to make a Wrinkles dive! It was nice meeting those of you who I hadn't had the pleasure yet, and seeing a few of you again. We split into groups and headed in different directions. Some wanted to walk to Crescent Bay with gear, others were smarter.
Our group hiked over to Fisherman's Cove where we had an uneventful entry. Despite the occasional surf and low tide the vis was surprisingly good in most spots. We swam the outer perimeter of the reef between Fisherman's and Diver's Cove, where we exited.
We saw lots of nesting Garibaldis, a 2 1/2 foot Halibut and a small stingray that scooted away in a hurry. A few large Sandbass stayed just out of camera range as well. It was a fun morning, and I expect to see several reports from the rest of the gang who decided to make a day of it.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

There was one notable no-show. :mad1:

 

[Otter]

Surf: 1 - 3 with the occasional 4-5 footer
Surge: 2-3
Viz: 0 -8' ton's of stuff in the water...as John put it,".. it was like swimming in a lawnmower bag"
Depth: 32'
Temp: 66F on surface 63 at depth (Suunto)
Buddies: John, Jennifer, Ana, Ross, and Tom

As part of the SoCal Scubaboard monthly "Wrinkles Dive", 5 of us had the opportunity to try out an AGA mask with OTS' awesome communications systems. With such poor viz, it still made for an interesting and fun dive. It's really amazing how well and easy it is to communicate underwater with the OTS system. At one point, we were about 150 yds away from one of the other buddy pairs and could still hear them clear as day.

 

[scottfiji]

Location: Deadmans Reef, Laguna, 2:30PM
Max Depth: 53ft
Bottom Time: 61 minutes
Temp: 66 above 30ft, 58 below
Vis: 10ft below 45ft, 15-20ft above
Waves: small

Bernard and I did the long swim out to deadman's reef, dropping down in 45ft of nothing but sand. We swam at 210 degrees for less than a minute before we hit smack into the reef. 2 Large octopus next to each other greeted us with open tentacles.

As morays stuck their heads out for the standard feeding, gobies and greenlings darted from perch to perch. Another large octopus gave us a huge brown inking when we tried to embrace him. Bands of red rock shrimp begged to clean us and a few spanish shawl danced in the surge. Camoflagued sole and scorpionfish scampered below us, not being seen until we almost touched them.

Kelp bass, numberous garibaldi, sheephead, rock wrasse and blacksmith joined us as we surveyed the upper portions of the pinnacles, and a large school of juvenile rock wrasse swam past us. The warmth of the upper pinnacles was a nice reprieve from the cold below.

Scott

pictures:
http://www.scubapost.net/gallery/Laguna20050611
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